Olivia Newton John

Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 in Cambridge - 8 August 2022 in Santa Barbara) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist.

Biography and career

She was the daughter of Welshman Brinley "Bryn" Newton-John (1914-1992) and the German Jew Irene Helene Born (1914-2003). Her maternal grandfather was the German physicist and mathematician Max Born, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954.

When he was five years old, his family moved to Australia, where his father was offered a job teaching at a Melbourne university. He had a sister, actress Rona Newton-John, who died of cancer. She became known by the nickname Livvy, from Olivia. In Australia, where she spent her childhood and adolescence, she studied at the University of Melbourne.

Beginnings as a singer

Your beginnings as a singer go back to high school, in a girl group called Sol Four.

Their first album, If Not For You, recorded in 1971, reached the United States and garnered three medium-hit singles: "Banks of The Ohio," "Me and Bobby McGee" (version of an existing song) and "If Not For You". Two years later she released her second album, Let Me Be There , featuring the country ballad "Take Me Home, Country Roads".

Eurovision Song Contest

From left to right: Dionne Warwick, Don Kirshner, Helen Reddy and Newton-John in 1974.

In 1974, he represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest that was held in the English city of Brighton. She performed the song "Long Live Love" and was in 4th position, with the Swedish ABBA (with "Waterloo") being the winners and Gigliola Cinquetti in second position. In that year his third album, If You Love Me, Let Me Know, reached the top of the album chart, and a ballad from the album, "I Honestly Love You", established itself in the charts. first place on the US Billboard.

Success in the United States

He immediately locked himself in the recording studios to record the next LP, which was a real success in the US market: Have You Never Been Mellow, which climbed to the number one album spot without problems. in 1975 and placing the homonymous song in the first place of the Hit Parade. Another song on the album stood out: it is "Please Mr. Please", another ballad in the country style.

In 1975 he went to live in the United States, where he soon achieved fame as a singer of pop music and also country music. Throughout her career, her songs reached first place on the sales charts five times. One of them was "Physical", which remained for ten weeks in that position. She also garnered four Grammy Awards. In 1979 he took part in the Music for UNICEF benefit concert, along with artists such as the Bee Gees, ABBA, Donna Summer, Rod Stewart among others, singing Rest your love on me and The Key.

Actress in Grease and Xanadu

Newton-John together with John Travolta in 1982.

She was also an actress, participating in films of a musical nature. Her biggest hit was Grease, with John Travolta.

The following ones were not as successful, especially Xanadu, which failed despite the participation of Gene Kelly, but whose soundtrack, composed by Jeff Lynne, founding member of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), was a success, especially the songs Xanadu and Suddenly (a duet with Cliff Richard) recorded in the United States in March 1980. Nor was Tal para cual a success, poorly received by the public, although his band Sonora was equally a great success.

Social activism and musical career

After being diagnosed with breast cancer, she became an advocate for cancer research. She was a spokesperson for the Liv-Kit product for breast self-exam. She was also a part owner of the Gaia Retreat & Spa in Byron Bay, Australia, billed as "the ideal place to renew, refresh and restore her mind, body and soul."

Her activism in the field of health issues was characterized by her involvement in many humanitarian causes. He canceled a 1978 concert tour of Japan to protest the slaughter of dolphins caught in tuna nets (the tour was later rescheduled when he was assured by the Japanese government that the issue was being investigated). He participated in the 1979 Music for UNICEF Concert for the worldwide television broadcast of the International Year of the Child. During the concert, the artists performed songs and donated their royalties in perpetuity, some to benefit the cause. She was named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program.

In 1991 she became the national spokesperson for the Colette Chuda Environmental Fund / CHEC (Children's Environmental Health Coalition), following the death of four-year-old family friend Colette Chuda from cancer (Chuda was featured along with Newton-John and their daughter Chloe on the cover of their 1989 Warm and Tender album.)

In the same way, the cancer diagnosis had a significant influence on whether his music made any reference to it. In 1994 she collaborated on the album & # 34; Songs From Heathcliff & # 34; by Cliff Richard. Also in 1994 she released Gaia: One Woman's Journey . This was the first album in which she wrote all of her songs, encouraging her to become more active as a songwriter thereafter. A related album was Stronger Than Before, from 2005; proceeds from album sales were donated to breast cancer research.

In 2008 she raised funds to help build the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Center in Melbourne, Australia.

In 2018 he collaborated on the recording of the song Everybody's Someone by Cliff Richard included in the album "Rise Up".

At the end of 2019, she was appointed Dame of the British Empire, for her artistic career and for her humanitarian work in the fight and prevention of cancer.

Personal life

She was married from 1984 to 1995 to actor Matt Lattanzi. From this marriage she had a daughter, Chloe Rose, born in 1986. Ella Newton was raised Catholic but when she turned twenty-seven she put her religious life aside. In 1985 she again retained her beliefs and until her death she considered herself a Buddhist and she has said that her religious beliefs were at "work". At the end of the 80s, together with her friend Pat Farrar, she launched a clothing brand called Koala Blue, in Australia and the United States, which due to financial errors led her to bankruptcy in 1992, but from which he recovered financially thanks to advertising and telefilms for the small screen.

Newton-John during a presentation at the Sydney State Theatre in September 2008.

Since 1996, she had a romantic relationship with Patrick McDermott, a cameraman, until he disappeared under mysterious circumstances during a boat excursion in 2005. But in 2016, rumors surfaced that McDermott had been seen in Mexico and that he had faked his death to break his relationship with Olivia. On June 21, 2008, high on a mountain in Peru with the winter solstice as a witness, she secretly married tycoon John & # 34; Amazon & # 34; Easterling.

Fight against cancer

In 1992 she was poised for another return to success, when she released her third greatest hits collection, Back to Basics - The Essential Collection 1971-1992, and planned her first tour since her album Physical made ten years earlier. Shortly after the album's release, she was diagnosed with breast cancer which forced her to cancel all publicity for the compilation, including the tour (where she received her diagnosis the same weekend her father died). long treatment, he recovered.

In 2012, twenty years after her cancer was detected, she suffered from it again, but she kept it a secret. In 2017, she revealed that she was diagnosed with cancer for the third time. She explained that the doctors diagnosed her with a tumor at the base of her spine, and that she underwent radiotherapy; She also said that she followed natural therapies and consumed cannabis oil for pain. "I follow a natural treatment and I am very well," she told the Australian channel Seven Network from her residence in California.

Death

On August 8, 2022, he died at his home in Southern California at the age of 73 from cancer.

In September 2022, Newton-John's family held a "small and very private" in California for the singer who was cremated and part of her ashes scattered in Byron Bay, the other parts rest at her ranch in Santa Ynez and the rest of her "in other places she loved" 3. 4;. A larger memorial is scheduled for early December in Melbourne, Australia, after the state of Victoria offered Newton-John's family a state funeral, which her niece Tottie Goldsmith accepted.

Discography

Newton knowing Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at a Sydney concert in 1980, with her there are also Roger Woodward and Paul Hogan (in shorts).

Newton-John during a presentation Viña 2017.

Albums

Studio albums

Soundtracks

Filmography

Newton-John at the Oscar Awards 1989.

Cinema

Television

Acknowledgments

Throughout his career, he received a long list of honors and recognitions. In 1979, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) medal at a public ceremony presided over by Queen Elizabeth II and in 2006, she was awarded the Order of Australia (OA) medal for services to the entertainment industry as a singer and actress. On August 5, 1981, she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1990, she was awarded for her work at the United Nations on the environment program.

In addition, he had up to twelve nominations, of which he won four at the Grammy Awards. At the American Music Awards, he managed to win ten of his thirteen nominations.[1] He also earned two Golden Globe Award nominations.